Improvement in power-looms for weaving- carpets



initrfi I ieire artt i HALCYON SKINNER, Oli" YONKERS, NEWYORK, ASSIGNORT0 ALEX- ANDER SMlTH, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters Patent No. 89,694, dated May 4, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN POWER-LOOMS FOR WEAVING CARPETS, c,

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whoml it lma/y concern Be it known that I, HALGYON SKINNER, ofYonkers, in the county of ,Westchesten and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Looms; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making partof this specification, in which-l Figure 1 is an elevationof therightshand side of a loom, with my improvements attached; and

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the righthand side only, the method ofmounting the jacquard being represented in section in both figures.

The sectional iigures will be referred to hereafter.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

My said invention relates to improvements in jac quard-looms, forlweaving two and three-ply carpets, and other figured fabrics, some ofthe said improvements having reference to the jacquard-mechanism, andothers to the mechanism for shifting and operating the shuttles.

In the accompanying drawingsa represents a suitable frame, and l), thelay, which is operated by. cranks on the lay-shaft c, which receivesmotion from the driving-shaft d, (see iig. 1,) by a pinion, c, andcog-wheel f.

The motions of the jacquard are derived from the lay by aconnecting-rod, g, extending from the 'upper end of one of the swords,h, of the lay, to an arm, i, on a rock-shaft, j, mounted in the frame,about midway between the upper part of the lay and the bottom of thejacquard.

And this rock-shaft has two other arms, lt k,to which are connected twoconnecting-rods, l l, that are in turn connected with the outer arms oftwo rockingframes, -m lm, both of which vrock on the same axiscentrally, under the jacquard.

The frame n of the jacquard is fitted to slide vertically in the upperpart of the frame u, and rests o n the two arms, o o, of each of the tworocking-frames, so that when the two arms, It h, of the rock-shaft j aredrawn down, the jacquard-frame is lifted, and vice versc. And to theouter parts of the rocking-frames m m are connected the two sets ofshifting-hooks, p p, formed to engage pins, q q, projecting from theends of the two trapdioards, /r lr, and which are to be shifted in theusual way, to take eitherV of the two trap-boards, both of which areadapted to slide in the jacqnard-frame. From this it will be seen that,as the jacquard-frame is lifted up with one of the trap-boards, theother trapboard descends, and vice versa, the harness being there bybalanced, or nearly so, And as the motion for operating thejacquard istaken from the lay with an intermediate rocking-shaft, having armsplaced-at an angle relatively to each other and to the lay and jacquard,as represented, the shifting of the Warps and opening ofthe shed areeffected in a very short space of time, and the shed remains full openfor the passage of the shuttle for a longer space of time, than by anyother mechanism before known, without the use of cams, thereby avoidingthe wear and tear incident to the use of cams. v

The mechanism for shifting the shuttles is mounted at the sides of theloom, one set on each side, and in line with the shuttle-'race of thelay, when thrown back.

The shuttle-boxes s, (see fig. 3,) one on each side, are formed eachwith two parallel compartments, t and u, the one, t, in front being. forthe reception of the shuttles belonging to, and which have to bereturned to the opposite side, and the back one, u, to receive' anddeliver the shuttles, when required to be changed.'

These shuttle-boxes are iitted to slide back and forth on and between aseries of bars, or ways c, placed at right angles to the length of theboxes and the upper surfaces of these bars or ways constitute the bottomof the rear compartment, u, when in line with the shuttlerace of thelay, but they do not extend back far enough to form a bottom to thisshuttle-box, when thrown back to deliver and receive a shuttle.

At yeach hack movement of the lay, these shuttle boxes are moved eitherforward or back, that either the front or vthe rear one may be in linewith the shuttle-race when a shuttle is to be thrown. n

And this back and forward motion is controlled by a cam, w, on each endof a shaft, x, which receives motion from a pinion, y, (see fig. 4,) outhe lay-shaft c, that engages a cog-Wheel, z.

As represented inthe drawings, the said cams have four projections anddepressions, and the cog-wheel z is to the pinion y as eight to one. l

Each shuttle-box is connected by two jointdinks, a1, with two arms, b,of a rock-shaft, c, and one of the said arms carries a roller, which iskept against the periphery'of the cam by the tension of a spring, d*(See iig. 2.)

On each side of the loom, and back of the shuttleboxes, there is aframe, c1, (see gs. l and 3,) ttedto slide on two parallel rods, or waysf, and each of these frames carries a series of horizontal parallelshuttleshelves, g, (see iig. 3,) the number in the series being equal tothe greatest number of shuttles which may be required.

The rear face of this frame is provided with a rack, h, which engagesthe threads of a worm, t1, on a shaft, j, by the turning of which theshuttle-sheives are depressed or elevated, as required for the shiftingof the shuttles. But before proceeding to the description of themechanismfor elevating and depressing the shuttle-frames, it isimportant to state that the position of the shuttle-shelf, relatively tothe shuttle-boxes, is such that at all times when the rear shuttle-box uis thrown back, one of the shuttle-shelves forms the bottom of thatshuttle-box, and the shuttle-shelf frame is elevated or depressed whilethe slnittlebox is in its position, so as to lift one shuttle out of thebox, and draw up another into it, or 'vice versa.

-for this purpose, the chain is provided with projecting pins, o1,placed at al distance apart suicient to turn the worm-shaft at any oneoperation to the extent required to elevate or depress the shuttle-shelfframe a distance equal to the space between the top of one shelf and thetop of the next.

The chain is operated by either one of two dogs p, (see iig. 5,) one oneach side of the chain, which dogs are hinged by their rear ends to across-head, ql, orxl the end of a rod, c, that slides'horizontally insuitable holes in brackets s1. (See figs. 2 and 5.)

At each beat of the lay, this rod -is reciprocated by a crank-pin on oneend of the layshaft, from which a connecting-rod, t1, extends to one armof a bell-crank, fu, from the other arm of which another connecting-rodextends to, and is connected with the rod r;

The two dogs are held out by springs crshown'by red lines inv'ig. 5, soas to clear the pins on the chain, and one or the other is caused toengage the chain, to move the shuttle-shelf frame up or down, by meansof two arms, w, of a rock-shaft, xl.

If-the rock-shaft is turned in one direction, one of the arms, fw, willpush the'corresponding dog toward the chain, to engage'one of the pins,o and if turned in the opposite direction, the other arm will make theother dog engage a pin on the chain, and when turned half way, both'dogswill clear the chain.

The periods for shifting the shuttles are determined by the jacquard bymeansof a cord, y, both ends of which are attached to thejacquard-frame. The two parts pass through separate holes in one of thetrapboards, thence through guideholes in a bracket, z, and around `aguide, a2, (see hg. 2,) below; and one part of this double cord isattached to an arm, b2, of the rock-shaft, 'so that if one side of thisdouble cord is trapped by the jacquard, the shaft will be turned in onedirection, tocause one of tb'edogs to engage the chain; and when theother part of the cord is trapped, Athe other dog will be caused toengage the chain; and when neither part of the cord is trapped, as thejacquard is lifted, both sides of the cord are drawn up, to turn andhold the rock-shaft, so that its arms will per- 4mit both dogs to clearthe chain.

The mechanism, as above described, is duplicated, one set on each sideof the loom, but the hooks on the dogs are reversed. Y

The two picker-staves, c, for driving theI shuttles, are operated by asingle picker-lever, d2, (see g. 1,) which is depressed by a cam, e2,(see iig. 1,) at one end of the lay-shaft c, the said lever being heldup tothe cam by a spring. i

Two or more shuttles have to be driven successively from one side of theloom, and then two or more from the other.` v

The mechanism inthe accompanying drawings is arranged for two; but forweaving three-ply carpets, and fabrics of that class, from three to fourare required to be thrown successively from each side.

The picker-staves are connected each by a strap, f2, passing over aroller, g2, and attached to one of two picker-rods, he, which slide in abracket attached to the frame, and near the lower end, they slide alsoin holes made iu a plate, i2, attached to a horizontally-sliding rod, j2. (See iigs. 1,2, and 6.)

The lower ends of the said picker-rods are formed each with. aprojecting spur", cr lip, lai, so that when the picker-lever ci isdepressed, it will act uponthe lip, or spur, 7a2, of one ofthe saidrods, to operate one of the piclrer-s'taves, c2, and the saidpicker-rods, h2, are that one or the otherof them will be placed in linewith the picker-lever by the sliding of the horizontal rod jz and theshifting of this rod is eiected by a face-cam, l2, (see figs. 4 and 7,)on one end of the shaft x. f'

The said caml acts on one end of a lever, m2, the other end of which islinked to the rod j 2, at n2, and the said lever is held to the face ofthe cam by the tension of a spring.

As before stated, the shaft :1J-makes one revolution to eight of thelay-shaft; and the cam F is so formed, that during onequarter of therevolution, the-horizontal rod 72 will be held at one end of its rangeof motion, that two shuttles may be driven in succession from one sideof the loom, and then shifted to the other side, and there held duringthe next quarter of the revolution, that two shuttles may be driven fromthe opposite side of the loom, and so on. From this it will be seen,that by changing the cam or the gearing, Ythe rod can be shifted, andheld so as to vary the order and succession of the throw of the shuttlesto any eX- tent required.

The momentum ofthe shuttles in boxing is checked by the resistance dueto the tension of a spring, oz, (see fig. 2,) one on each side,appliedabove the shuttle-bor', so as to bear on the top of the shuttle.But it is desirable to relieve the shuttle from this pressure at thetime of driving, and for that purpose the said springs o2 form each thepart or elongation of a lever, p2, that turns on a fulcrum-pin, q2, (seeiig. 2 and the outer end of theisaid lever is lifted and held up orliberated by one arm of a short lever,- lr2. There is one such mechanismon each side of the loom,

When the shuttles are to be thrown from one side, they are to he freedfrom the tension of the spring, and the spring on the other side shouldbe in place to arrest the shuttles when boxing, and 'vice versa.

To accomplish this, the horizontal rod jz, be'fore described, isextended entirely through the whole width ofthe loom, and is provided'at each end with a cam, s2, (see figs. l and 2,)to act on the levers r2,that force down or liberate the check-springs oz and 'these two cams-areat such 'distance apart on the'rod j 2, that' when one is in position toact on its correspondingv lever, /r,.the other will clear its lever r2,and vice versa, and these are brought into the required positions by thesliding' of the rod, to bring the one or the other ofthe picker-rods h2in line with the picker-lever d2, but on the reverse side. And the .saidcams s2, or rather the one or the other of them, is caused to act on itslever r, to depress the spring, by the turning of the rod,

which is e'ected by a rod, t2, (see figs. 2 and 6,)on thel back of `thelay, which, as the lay reaches the end o f its backmotion, strikes auarm, u, (see figs. 1 and 6,) on the rod j 2, and this turns the cams, sothat the lone which happens to be in position will operate thecorresponding lever, to depress the spring, to check'the shuttle inboxing.

l have above described, and represented in the drawings, the-mode ofapplication of my said invention which I have tried with success. I donot wish, however, to he understood as limiting my claims of inventionvto such mode of application, as that may be varied by the substitutionof equivalent means, without changing the mode of operation, as forinstance, instead 'of communicating motion to the rock-shaft with itstwo sets of arms interposed between the jacquard and the lay, the firstmotion may be taken from a crank ,ou the layshaft, instead'oi from thelay, as it will be obvious that substantially the same motion can begiven to the rockshaftfrom the one as from the other, my inventionconsistingv in the interposition of the rock-shaft with its two sets ofarms placed at an angle, by means of which 1 am enabled to completelyopen the shed, as the lay moves back, in less time, and to keep it openduring a longer time than by any other arrangement.

And so with the number' of shuttle-boxes. I have described andrepresented but two on each side; but it will be obvious, that, insteadof' being made with two, they can be made with three vor four, as may berequired for the kind of fabric desired to be produced, makingcorresponding changes in the other parts ofA the loom,- as indicated.

I do not wish to be understood as claiming the horizontally-slidingshuttle-boxes, or the vertically-sliding shuttle-shelves, or theircombination. v

What I claim as my invention, and desire to Jsecure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The arrangement for communicating motion to the jacquard from thelay, or equiyalent part of the loom, by the interposition of arocking-shaft with two sets of arms, at an angle with each other,substantially as and for the purpose described. 1

2. The mechanism, substantially as described, for operating alternatelythe two picker-staves, or either of them. two or more timessuccessively, for the purpose set forth.

3. The mechanism for relieving the shuttles from the pressure of thecheck-springs, when they are to be thrown, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

4. The mechanism by which the shuttle-shelves are shifted, whichmechanism consists of ra cogged rack, engaged by a worm on a shaft,turned by a chain, which is actuated by either of two reciprocatinghooks, thrown in or out of action by the jacquard, as and for thepurpose described.

5. The mechanism, substantially as described, for elevating anddepressing the shuttle-shelves.

HALOYON SKINNER.

'Witnesses:

WM. H. BISHOP, Oms. M. DE LACY.

